BETTE / TOTO /TOKENS / TALAFREAKO

Yesterday was a bad day for me regarding e-mails.

• First, I was responding to a message from my University of Hawaii address, pressed the wrong button to send it out, and lost all my messages of the past two months.  Fortunately, 15 Craigside has InfoTech service, and one of the staff came up to fix the problem.  This kind of inconvenience happens all the time, and they again saved me.
• 
  Then, I could not access my Hotmail.
• This turned out to be a Microsoft outage, and was not fixed for me until this morning.
• No malicious activity, something to do with their equipment and/or system.
• The company reports that "millions" of people in at least 74 countries suffered.  Microsoft 365 has around 440 million paid commercial and consumer users, so the whole world suffered.
• Microsoft shares dropped 1.7%, but they had gained 8% this year, so all seems well with the company now.

Not a problem for me, as I am not Jensen Huang, nor do I own any Nvidia stocks, but, after his debacle and an all-time high on October 6, share values have plummeted to its lowest valuation since 2102.  

• Huang, who came to the U.S. from Taiwan at the age 9, resigned amid a scandal report of his extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy.  He has had other affairs too.
• Met his wife Lori Mills in 1980 when they were electrical engineering students and lab partners at Oregon State University.  They were married in 1985 and have two children.  He went on to get a master's degree from Stanford in 1992, and co-founded Nvidia in 1993.
• He is 63 years old and she, 64.
• Jensen Huang is said to be worth $147 billion.  

Since the midterm elections, this blog site has been too, too serious.  Today, something frivolous.  Now and then I sneak in postings to surprise and entertain.   

Guess who this is?

• Born in Hawaii.  Father painted houses for the Navy.  Mother sewed. They raised four children in Halawa Housing, converted barracks near Pearl Harbor, in a home with one mirror and very few photographs. Ruth named her three girls after movie stars: Judy for Judy Garland, Susan for Susan Hayward, Bette for Bette Davis. The youngest was a boy, Daniel, who had a disability. Bette has said it was their father who taught him to read and write.  That was the whole ʻohana. Six people and one mirror.
• 
  Graduated from Radford High School in 1963, valedictorian.
• Left for New York.  Judy, the eldest, was in the city in December 1963, walking along 44th Street.  "A car came out of a garage and killed her," Bette said years later.
• Real prominence came in 1970 when she began singing in the Continental Baths, a local gay bathhouse.
• Four years after that, her first album was released. Then came the rest!!!  
• 14 albums as a solo artist, selling over 30 million records worldwide, receiving 4 Gold and 3 Platinum albums.
• Has won 3 Emmys, 4 Grammys, 2 Tonys and 4 Golden Globe awards.

• 
  In September 1973, she flew home to sing in Honolulu for the first time as a star. She walked out in a panic. The closing ovation ran seven minutes. In Row C sat her mother, her sister Susan and her brother Daniel.  Her father did not come.  "He never chose to see me perform - except on Johnny Carson," she said. Father saw his daughter on television. Never saw her from a seat in the audience.

• 
  Mom died of cancer in 1979.  In May 1986, her father's heart gave out. Bette was 40 years old, and half of the six in the family from Halawa Housing were gone.  
• Married Martin von Haselberg in 1984 by an Elvis impersonator.  42 years later, still married.
• Bette in 2000 bought 1,400 acres of old sugar cane land above Kapaʻa, on Kauaʻi, from the Amfac sugar company. The price was $4.5 million.

• 
  Her people said it might grow trees someday. She said nothing. By 2002, she had signed up to put about 100 acres into a perpetual federal easement, to bring back wetlands for endangered waterbirds. Perpetual means it has no end date.
• In February 2025, a Kauaʻi nonprofit called Mālama Kauaʻi signed a lease for 87 acres of the same land, from a company Bette partly owns. The nonprofit worked mostly with her daughter. The plan was small, affordable plots for local farmers. On Kauaʻi, farm land is very hard to get.

• 
  "She had the forethought to lock this land away so it wouldn't be all hotels," said Megan Fox, who runs Mālama Kauaʻi. "Not many people do that."
• By April 2026, three farms were on the land. Naoshi Grady grows kava there. Brianna and Corey Ansley run Aloha Ola Farms. Heather and Pono Nero run Mahina O Kailani. The nonprofit is raising about $1 million for a well, to bring water to the land.

She is now 80 years old and, of course, her name is Bette Midler.

• Her film debut was The Rose in 1979.  Also went on to Down and Out in Beverley Hills (1986), Ruthless People (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), Big Business (1988), Beaches (1988), Stella (1990), Hocus Pocus (1993, which has become the #1 Halloween film for normal people--there was a sequel in 2022), Gypsy (1993), The First Wives Club (1996), The Stepford Wives (2004), Parental Guidance (2012), and The Addams Family (2019).

• 
  Many of her songs became chart hits, including "The Rose", "Wind Beneath My Wings", "Do You Want to Dance?", "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", and "From a Distance". She won Grammy Awards for Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "The Rose", and Record of the Year for "Wind Beneath My Wings".

Ever heard of the band Toto?

• Formed in Los Angeles in 1977.
• Named after Toto, the dog from The Wizard of Oz.
• They were the band for Sonny & Cher, Seals & Croft, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs and others.
• Two most popular songs are Africa and Rosanna.  Member Steve Porcaro was at that time dating Rosanna Arquette, but said the song is not about her.

• 
  Released 14 albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide.
• Has won 6 Grammys.
• Still touring, and will kick off its 50th Anniversary world tour in March of next year.

• 
  But I did not create this posting for the above info.  Members of the band were also active creating for events and films.
• Moodido (The Match), the boxing theme for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.  A future contribution for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics?

• 
  The entire musical score for David Lynch's 1984 sci-fi film, Dune, collaborating with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
• Some of their songs appear in commercials.  I noticed when reading about this foray that Barry Manilow wrote the commercial jingle for State Farm, about being a good neighbor, and made $500.

Next, on to The Tokens.  Of course, you must have heard them.

• A doo-wop band from Brooklyn, they formed in 1955 at Abraham Lincoln High School, and was then known as the Linc-Tones.  Neil Sedaka was an original member, and was the lead vocal in its first single, While I Dream.  Sedaka left The Tokens and the Coins in 1958.

• 
  Recorded The Lion Sleeps Tonight in 1961, the English version of Mbube.
• Now that's a song that has a remarkable history.  You read my posting of 26April2018.

The song was recorded in 1939  by Solomon Linda with the Evening Birds in South Africa as Mbube (lion in Zulu).  Linda actually initially wrote the song in the 1920's.  He sold it to Gallo Studios for the equivalent of 87 cents and got a job as a janitor.  The record was the first from Africa to sell over 100,000 copies.

My first recollection of this tune was by The Weavers, recorded in 1951.  But they titled it Wimoweh, which was a mishearing of Uyimbube in the original chorus.  Here they are again at one of their re-unions.  

However, a couple of them were identified as Communist Party members (never confirmed), and they had to disband in 1952 at the height of their career.  Pete Seeger in particular kept dropping out of the group for various reasons when they were able to do anything, but kept returning.  If you really like them, here is their 49-minute Carnegie Hall concert in 1963:  with On Top of Old Smokey, Goodnight Irene, Tzena Tzena Tzena, etc.  Here, a one-hour documentary entitled Wasn't That a Time.

• 
  But again, I did not insert The Tokens into this posting because of their hit song.  Turns out that:

The doo-wop vocal group The Tokens made history during their 1998 Anthem tour by becoming the first pop group to perform the U.S. national anthem in all 30 major league baseball (MLB) ballparks in a single season. [1]

• Watch this video of their feat.

Finally, on to Talafreako.

• Senator-Elect James Talarico got called all kinds of names during these recent midterm elections.
• President Donald Trump coined Talacreepo and James Talafreako.
• Rather than shying away from this insult, the campaign adopted the term by selling Talafreako t-shirts, badges and everything else they could find.
• T-shirts from $32 to $40.
• Black baseball cap for $32.
• Crewneck sweater for $55.
• Bumper stickers for $6.
• Yard signs for $24.
• 4-pack buttons for $12.

• 
  Then, Dallas-born Lil Texxan released a viral freestyle track title Talafreako (Ken Paxton Diss).
• This became a campaign anthem, fueling a wave of TikTok dances and Ai-generated memes.
• Featured clean-cut middle school teacher Talarico in exaggerated cultural scenarios.

For the record, as I've been featuring betting sites to predict the future for those Mississippi and Alaska senate races, here is what the James Talarico vs Ken Paxton numbers looked like on Polymarket:

                                     Talarico   Paxton

• September 13        49.5        49.5
• October 3              64.3        34.5
• October 15            62.5        37.5
• November 1          70.5        29.5
• November 2          72.5        26.5
• November 3          83.5        17.5
• November 4          100            0

Final tally                        55.1         43

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SENATOR-ELECT SCOTT COLOM (D-MISSISSIPPI)

The victory of 43-year old African-American Democrat Scott Colom for the Mississippi Senate seat over incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith stunned the nation, and brought new attention to the state and South in general.  I will later describe this race, but would like to note that I have never ever before enjoyed the waves of euphoria that keep coming from any sort of election.

My closest experience to something like this occurred 69 years ago.  

• I was a nobody in high school, but at some point early in my junior year of high school, suddenly decided that I wanted to go to either the California Institute of Technology or Stanford University.
• One of many deficiencies was that I had zero social/political activities.
• So, never having done anything like this before, I decided to run for vice-president of the senior class.
• Doing so meant you automatically became chairman of a wide variety of committees, like commencement and so forth.
• I've blogged on what I had to do to get accepted to both universities, and here is one posting. from which I quote:

• 
  I had never run for any kind of office in my life.  How this came to be must have been some kind of joke or fluke, but one day I found my name on the ballot for Vice President of the Senior Class.  I myself did not actually do this, nor did I ask anyone for help.  Somehow, one of my early miracles,  I eked out a victory, which could well have been the main reason why Stanford accepted me.  They thought they had a leader.  This is important for getting into a good school.  Show some political skills in your application. I never ran again, for anything, ever.
• One bit of luck:  all three opponents were female, and the prohibitive favorite a few years later became Narcissus Queen for Hawaii.  A very big deal in Honolulu.
• 
  Second bit of luck:  I was playing intramural basketball, went up for a lay-up, got roughly fouled, fell, and broke my wrist.  People recognized me as the one with the cast.  Poor guy. Let's vote for him.  I took a cute photo for my final campaign poster showing me and the cast.
• Thinking back to the mid-1950's, I cannot imagine why I would only apply to Caltech and Stanford.  From what I know now, that was clearly foolhardy, if not idiotic.
• So in conclusion, my mind has this ability to fool me into accomplishing things beyond the pale.  If anything, that was the distinguishing feature of my attitude that, first, gave me the inspiration to try for the best, and, then, actually accomplish that goal.

So back to today to Scott Colom and Mississippi.  I'll start with a history of this state:

• Traces back to 9500 BC and the hunter-gathering Paleo-Indians.
• Descendant native American tribes include the Chickasaw and Choctaw.
• The first major European expedition was led by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1540.

• 
  After Great Britain's victory over the French in the Seven Year's War in 1763, France surrendered their North American empire east of Mississippi River to the British.
• The American Revolution resulted in a shift to U.S control in 1783.
• During the colonial era, French and Spanish settlers imported enslaved African to work on cash crop plantations.
• From zero, the Black population rose to 31% in 1784.
• Was 35% in the Natchez District in 1798.
• Rose to 41% in an 1800 U.S. census.
• 
  Mississippi became the 20th state in 1817.
• Beginning in 1822, slaves began to be protected by U.S. Law.
• When cotton was king during the 1850s, Mississippi plantation owners became wealthy from free slave labor.

• 
  By 1860, the enslaved population numbered 436,631, or 55% of this region's 791,305 persons.
• On 9January1861, Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union.  The first six states to do this were those with the highest number of slaves.
• Mississippi was restored to the Union in 1870.

• 
  During Reconstruction in 1868, white and black (17%, even though 32 counties had black majorities) delegates drew up the first state constitution.
• In 1870, Black Hiram Rhodes Revels was sent to Congress by the state legislature to fill and unexpired term.
• In 1875, Blanch Bruce was elected to a 6-year term.
• However, from Google AI:

This brief period of Black political power in Mississippi collapsed as Reconstruction ended in the late 1870s. White supremacist paramilitary campaigns, voter intimidation, and the eventual passage of the 1890 Mississippi state constitution—which instituted poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses—systematically disenfranchised Black Mississippians for nearly a century. [1, 2, 3]

• 
  The 1870s saw racial riots, and in 1890, a new state constitution was passed to "eliminate the nigger from politics."  Jim Crow and racial segregation laws followed.
• Historical records indicate that there were 581 documented lynchings from 1882 to 1968 just in Mississippi.
• Here is something you might not have known.
• 27% of the lynchings in the U.S. in this period were of Whites.
• These mostly occurred in Western territories, but the Klu Klux Klan also did this to Whites who helped Blacks in the South.

• 
  In 1900 Blacks made up more than half the state's population.
• From the 1940 to 1970 almost half a million people migrated away, 75% Black.
• Because of out migration, in 1960, only 42% of the population were Black, and most were not allowed to vote.

• 
  The Civil Rights movement began to change things, and the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 laid the groundwork for adjustment.  It took more than half a century, but it is now becoming more and more clear that things are beginning to really change.

• 
  In 1920, Mississippi voted against allowing women to vote.  However the 19th Amendment got 36 states to ratify, making it compulsory for female voting.  However, it took until 1984 for Mississippi to actually approve the 19th Amendment.

• 
  Much of gospel, country, jazz, blues and rock music originated in Mississippi.
• Mississippi has been devastated by two hurricanes.
• Camille in 1969 killed 248 and causing $13 billion in damages.
• Katrina in 2005 killed 238 and cause tens of billions dollars damage.

• 
  Largest city and capital is Jackson.
• Historically populated by the Choctaw.
• Was the strategic center of manufacturing for the Confederacy.
• Named after Andrew Jackson.
• Became state capital in 1821.
• Known as the City with Soul.
• Population was 173,514 in the 2010 census.  Today, 141,196, a decline of almost 20%.  What happened?

• 
  Economic stagnation, for wages are 25% below the national average.
• Infrastructure crisis, including departure of major corporate presence.
• White flight to wealthier suburbs, which eroded the city's tax base.
• Population is today 17% White and 79% Black.
• Crime is a problem, and is only surpassed by St.Louis in homicide rate.  Bad street gangs.
• 
  In the song "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and featuring Bruno Mars Jackson is mentioned in the lines "Julio! Get the Stretch! Ride to Harlem, Hollywood, Jackson, Mississippi."
• 
  In 2020, Mississippi became the last state to remove the Confederate battle flag.  They now have a New Magnolia flag.

• 
  The population is dropping.
• 2010  2,967,297
• 2020  2,961,279
• 2025  2,954,160.
• Ethnicity.
• White (non-Hispanic)  55.4%
• African American  36.4%
• Hispanic  3.6%
• Asian  1.5%
• 
  Religion.
• Protestantism  74%
• Catholicism  8%
• Health care:  ranked 50th or last place.
• Ranks #2 in Federal spending/capita.  #1?  Alaska.  And these are the final two states to determine the senate winner.
• Mississippi is home to 63 crayfish species.
• The most valuable natural resource of Mississippi is the Mississippi River.  Read my posting of 6April2026, THE MIGHT MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

I lived in adjacent state Louisiana for almost four years from 1968 to 1972, so saw a lot of Mississippi, and have since then visited the state several times, including more recently in April of this year.  When I was director of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University Hawaii, I worked closely with the University of Mississippi on ocean resources, for Senator John Stennis and Senator Dan Inouye of Hawaii were powerful Appropriate Committee members.  When Stennis retired in 1989, he was the last Democrat until this coming of Scott Colom.  Stennis served the Senate for 41 years, and was a staunch segregationist.  How times have changed.

What about Scott Colom?

• Born in Columbus, Mississippi on Christmas Eve of 1982.
• Mother was the first Blackperson elected to a Mississippi judgeship.
• Father, also a lawyer, was the Republican nominee for state treasurer in 1987.
• Earned a BA in Engish and history for Millsaps College in 2005, and Juris Doctor, cumlaude, from the University Wisconsin Law School in 2009.

• 
  After college, worked as a teacher in Guyana before going to law school.
• After law school worked on the staff of the Mississippi Center for Justice.
• Managed his law firm from 2011 to 2016, while serving part-time as the youngest and first Black justice court judge, and was elected district attorney in 2015, beating a 30-year incumbent.  Kept running for this position, and was reelected in 2023 with 56% of the vote.

• 
  Was nominated in 2022 by President Joe Biden to serve as a U.S.district judge, but was blocked by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.  Thus, if she had not denied Colom this judgeship, she most likely would have continued as a senator from Mississippi.
• In September of 2025 announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.  Defeated two Democratic opponents in the 2026 primary. 

• 
  In the mid-term election, ran against incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Independent Ty Pinkins, the previous Democratic nominee for this Senate seat.  The presence of Pinkins made things especially difficult for Colom, as they fought for the same Black votes.  Republican Donald Trump won Mississippi  in 2024 over Democrat Kamala Harris by 23%.  Yes, this Colom victory was incredibly miraculous.

• 
  Citing Polymarket.
• On 3November2025, Colom had an 8.5% chance of beating Hyde-Smith.  She scored at 91.5%.
• On 21April2025, Colom jumped to 18%, with Hyde-Smith at 87.5%.  Still a comfortable lead.
• This blip fell back to 8.5% on July 16, with H-S up to 91.5%.
• Slipped further to 7.5% on August 16, H-S up to 92.5%.
• Even further down to 5.5% on August 31, H-S up to 94.5%.
• At 6.5% on October 12, H-S at 93.5%.
• However up to 11% for Colom on October 30, H-S 86.5%.
• Further up to 13.5% for Colom on November 2, the day before the midterms, H-S at 86.5%.
• As the polls opened on November 3, Colom was at 14%, H-S 86.5%.
• But at 2PM on November 3, suddenly, Colom jumped to 19.5%, H-S 80.5%.
• Even at 2AM on November 4, Colom was only at 18.9%, H-S 80.5%.
• However, by 2PM on November 4, Colom leaped to 97.9%, H-S 1.9%.
• November 5 2AM Colom 97.3%, H-S 2%, a mild recovery for her.
• November 6 2PM Colom 99.4%, H-S 0.5%.
• November 7 2PM Colom 99.1%, H-S 0.9%/.
• November 8 2PM Colom 98.6%, H-S 1.1%
• November 9 2PM Colom 98.8%, H-S 1.1%
• November 10 2PM Colom 99%, H-S 1%
• November 11 4PM Colom 100%, H-S 0.1%.
• 
  Has a twin brother, Andrew, who is a real estate developer in Detroit, and worked on Scott's Senate campaign.  Of course they look alike.  That's not Scott to the right.  That's Andrew.   Watch this video.
• 
  Cites Tolstoy's  Anna Karenina as a source of wisdom.
• Is married to Nadia Dale, with two daughters, 9 year old Gwendolyn Lucille, call her Luci, and 8-year old Brooklyn Madison, or Madi. Nadia works as a realtor and property manager.  Graduated from Jackson State University and went to New York University for a master's degree.

So yesterday, Colom was finally declared the winner.  And, somewhat surprisingly, Cindy Hyde-Smith publicly conceded.  Watch her video.

Fun facts about Mississippi:

• 
  Is the birthplace of blues music, with B.B. King and Muddy Waters.
• Has the world's largest shrimp.  It's a sculpture.  Actually:

The largest true shrimp/prawn species are often considered giant varieties like the Asian tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon), which can grow up to a foot long and weigh around a pound, and are found across parts of the Indo-Pacific and invasive in the Gulf of Mexico rather than being native record-holders exclusive to Mississippi. 

• 
  Barq's Root beer in Biloxi is touted as the first commercially available root beer.
• The University of Mississippi has the only marijuana research facility in the U.S.

• 
  Teddy Bear's origin is in Mississippi. 
• In 1902, President Teddy Roosevelt went bear-hunting in Onward, Mississippi.
• Holt Collier, cornered, clubbed, and tied an old, exhausted black bear to a tree for the president to shoot. Roosevelt refused to shoot it, considering it unsportsmanlike, though he ordered the animal put out of its misery. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• 
  The Clifford Berryman Cartoon: Political cartoonist Clifford Berryman illustrated the story in the Washington Post on November 16, 1902, in a cartoon titled "Drawing the Line in Mississippi". The drawing depicted Roosevelt with his rifle, turning his back on a small, cute bear cub. [1, 2, 3]
• 
  Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.
• Mississippi has the most catfish in the nation.
• Oprah Winfrey grew up in Mississippi.  Was born in Kosciusko, MS.
• Has a petrified forest in Flora, MS.
• Natchez is the first planned settlement on the Mississippi River, going back to the 1700s.
• Is home to the the longest man-made beach in the country, along the Gulf Coast from Biloxi to Gulfport.  26 miles.

• 
  Coca Cola was first bottled in Vicksburg, MS.
• The state flower is the magnolia.  That's why it's on their new flag.

Thus, there is now only one senate seat left, to confirm, Alaska, with Democrat Mary Peltola still slightly leading incumbent Dan Sullivan.  My key intelligence comes from betting sites.  On Kalshi:

• 
  Peltola held a 69% to 31% lead over Sullivan going into November 3.
• This zoomed up to an 88% to 12% difference at 7PM on November 3.
• On November 6 was at 93% to 7%.
• Today, 99.3% to 0.7%.
• I would surmise that I someday, but not necessarily soon, will have a posting titled:  SENATOR-ELECT MARY PEROLTA (D-ALASKA).

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